Please note the information in this Practice Note relates to the current law in England. The law in Wales in this area is covered by the Social Services and Well-being...
General Adoption applications generally arise in three situations: • when children are the subject of placement orders, usually in the context of care proceedings, see...
Principles With the abolition of the power to apply for freeing orders, the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (ACA 2002) introduced a framework for authorising the placement...
Undocumented migrants claiming to be children While this Practice Note is not limited to unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC), this is the group that a...
Changes were made in relation to appeals as a result of the introduction of the single Family Court with effect from 22 April 2014, see Practice Note: Appeals—general...
Circumstances in which a special guardianship order may be made The court may make a special guardianship order (SGO): • as the result of a free-standing application by...
Claim for asylum A claim for asylum includes a claim under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) where the applicant states that if removed to their...
Care orders What is a care order and what is its purpose? A care order is an order granted by the family court which allows a designated local authority to share parental...
Chapter 1 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017 (CASWA 2017) introduces an obligation on local authorities to consider additional general needs, known as principles,...
This Practice Note is impacted by the exit of the UK from the EU on 31 January 2020. This has implications for practitioners, inter alia, when considering which courts...
This Practice Note is impacted by the exit of the UK from the EU on 31 January 2020. This has implications for practitioners, inter alia, when considering which courts...
Please note the information in this Practice Note relates to the current law in England. The law in Wales in this area is covered by the Social Services and Well-being...
This Practice Note details the circumstances in which a child may be a party to public law children proceedings, the procedure for the appointment of a children's...
Please note the information in this Practice Note relates to the current law in England. The law in Wales in this area is covered by the Social Services and Well-being...
This Practice Note considers recent court decisions on whether a parent can consent to the confinement of their child which, absent valid consent, would amount to a...
The welfare of more than one child In situations where the welfare of two children who have conflicting interests is inextricably linked, the court must decide whether...
Planning for adoption and contact The issue of contact must be addressed in the social worker’s permanency report and also by the agency decision-maker. In the rare cases...
This tracker is focused on children’s social care and is intended to be used to track key developments, legislation, guidance, parliamentary briefing notes and other...
General principles In children proceedings the general rule that costs will follow the event does not apply. Express statutory provision is made in the Family Procedure...
This Practice Note aims to provide guidance on the often controversial issue of local authority designation for the purposes of section 31 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA...
Duration of special guardianship orders A special guardianship order (SGO) will continue until the child attains the age of 18 unless it is discharged sooner by an order...
What is a Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and when is it used? A Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is a shared assessment and planning framework for use across all...
Coronavirus (COVID-19): This Practice Note contains guidance on subjects impacted by the Coronavirus Act 2020 (CA 2020). CA 2020, ss 37-38 and CA 2020, Sch 16, Pt 1, para...
Child arrangements orders Amendments made to section 8(1) of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) removed the concepts of 'contact order' and 'residence order' and inserted...
This Practice Note deals with evidence in public children proceedings including admissibility, credibility, competence and compellability. It also details the provisions...
This Practice Note deals with expert evidence in public law children proceedings, including in care and adoption proceedings. It details the relevant statutory provisions...